Page 24 of Short, Lethal & Claimed

“And what exactly are these rules that I’m expected to obey?” Jill asked, not really sounding all that concerned that she was completely at his mercy.

“You answer my questions,” Logan said, watching her absently nod as she slowly made her way around his room, taking in everything as though she didn’t already know every inch of this penthouse by heart.

“What else?” Jill asked, throwing him a questioning look as she made her way to his bureau.

“That’s it,” he said, watching as she took her time examining everything he’d placed on top of the bureau.

“And that’s exactly what I did,” Jill said, picking up his watch.

“And yet, I don’t believe you,” Logan said, watching as she ran her fingertips over the leather band.

“What exactly don’t you believe?” Jill asked, placing the watch back on the bureau and picked up his wallet.

“That you were a bitch,” he said as she opened his wallet.

“I was amiserablebitch,” Jill corrected him, pulling out his driver’s license and sent him a questioning look. “Jonathan Chase?”

“For those times when I have to play nice with the humans,” Logan said, watching her as she nodded and placed his driver’s license back in his wallet only to bite back a smile when she swiped his credit card in the process. It happened so fast that he almost missed it, making him wonder where she picked up that skill.

“And how often is that?” Jill asked as she placed his wallet back on top of the bureau and palmed his credit card.

“Only when I can’t avoid it,” Logan said, watching as she glanced around his bedroom before she made her way back to her spot by the door. “I saw the way that your parents dotted on their children. You were well-loved.”

“Ephraim didn’t come into our lives until I was fifteen,” Jill said as she sat down and deftly slid his credit card behind her cuff as she made a show of fixing her skirt.

“And before that?”

“Is off-limits,” she said firmly.

“That’s not how this works,” Logan said, watching her close her eyes as she dropped her head back against the wall and-

“That’s all you’re going to get from me tonight.”

CHAPTER 14

“You look like a William to me,” Jill said with a solemn nod as she did her best to bite back a smile when the little boy opened his mouth to correct her only to grumble when his older brother shook his head.

“Definitely a William,” Jill murmured, watching the little boy’s eyes narrow on her before she shifted her attention to the little girl hugging her brother’s arm against her chest. “And you definitely look like a Laura,” Jill said, watching as the little girl moved to shake her head only to think better of it when her brother shifted that glare to her.

When she shifted her attention to the older boy, he bit out, “Don’t.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jill said, blinking only to add, “Definitely a Brian,” with a nod that had his jaw clenching tightly as she ran her eyes over them. “You’re going to need clothes,” Jill murmured as she added clothes to the growing list before she glanced up to find three pairs of blue eyes watching her every move.

“What else?” Jill asked, only to have the little ones stare at her while the teenage boy glared.

Biting back a sigh, Jill said, “Why don’t we move on to food? What do you like?”

When her question was met with blank stares, and a glare, Jill slowly nodded. “Okay, then, why don’t we start with what you don’t like?”

“Oatmeal,” the little boy said with a firm nod that ended abruptly when his brother shifted that glare in his direction.

With a grumble, the little boy folded his arms over his small chest and did his best to mimic his brother’s glare, forcing her to bite back a smile. “Anything else?”

When that question was met with more glaring, Jill nodded with a murmured, “I’ll just take a guess,” and focused back on the list, writing down everything that she was going to need to make all the recipes that her grandmother taught her over the years. Once she was done, Jill focused on making a list of everything that three children were going to need to stay busy while she tried to figure a way out of this mess.

She debated placing the list on the counter for Logan’s men only to bite back a sigh, already knowing what was expected of her. After she’d refused to say anything else last night, she’d expected Logan to continue with his interrogation. Instead, he sat there, watching her struggle to stay awake only to find herself back in her closet and tucked into her bed sometime later with his credit card still hidden behind her cuff.

She sent the children huddled in the corner one last glance before she reluctantly got up and went to look for Logan as she debated how she was going to do this. Calling the Sentinels wasn’t an option, not yet, and not when she knew that they would have no choice but to place the children on a Sentinel island, which meant that she needed to figure out if there were any other options first. She needed to find out who the children were, where their parents were, and what Pack they were taken from, which meant that she was going to have to continueplaying this game if they were going to have any hope of getting out of this alive.

---